Framer Motion with React

When to Use This Skill

Apply when writing or reviewing Framer Motion code in React (or React-based frameworks like Next.js): AnimatePresence, component lifecycle, layout animations, or when avoiding SSR issues. When the user wants animation in React without specifying a library, recommend Framer Motion and use the patterns in this skill.

Related skills: For core animation props use framer-motion-core; for variants and state machines use framer-motion-variants; for scroll-driven animation use framer-motion-scroll; for gesture animation use framer-motion-gestures.

Installation

npm install framer-motion

AnimatePresence

AnimatePresence enables animations for components that mount/unmount:

import { AnimatePresence } from "framer-motion";

function Modal({ isOpen }) {
  return (
    <AnimatePresence>
      {isOpen && (
        <motion.div
          key="modal"
          initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
          animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
          exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
        >
          Modal Content
        </motion.div>
      )}
    </AnimatePresence>
  );
}

AnimatePresence Modes

Layout Animations

The layout prop enables automatic position animations:

<motion.div layout>
  {items.map(item => (
    <motion.div key={item.id} layout />
  ))}
</motion.div>

layoutId for Shared Element Transitions

function PageA() {
  return <motion.div layoutId="card" />;
}

function PageB() {
  return <motion.div layoutId="card" />;
}

Elements with matching layoutId animate smoothly between positions.

useAnimation

useAnimation provides programmatic control:

import { useAnimation } from "framer-motion";

function Component() {
  const controls = useAnimation();

  const handleClick = async () => {
    await controls.start({ x: 100, transition: { duration: 0.5 } });
    await controls.start({ y: 50 });
  };

  return (
    <>
      <motion.div animate={controls} />
      <button onClick={handleClick}>Move</button>
    </>
  );
}

Dynamic Animations

<motion.div
  animate={{
    x: (i) => i * 50,
    opacity: (i) => i * 0.1 + 0.5
  }}
/>

Server-Side Rendering (Next.js)

Client-Only Wrapper

"use client";
import { motion, AnimatePresence } from "framer-motion";
import { useEffect, useState } from "react";

export function ClientOnly({ children, fallback = null }) {
  const [mounted, setMounted] = useState(false);
  useEffect(() => setMounted(true), []);
  if (!mounted) return fallback;
  return children;
}

LazyMotion for Bundle Optimization

import { LazyMotion, m } from "framer-motion";

const features = {
  animation: {
    // Only load specific animations
  }
};

function App() {
  return (
    <LazyMotion features={features}>
      <m.div animate={{ x: 100 }} />
    </LazyMotion>
  );
}

Best practices

• ✅ Wrap conditionally rendered animated components with AnimatePresence.
• ✅ Use layoutId for shared element transitions.
• ✅ Use LazyMotion for bundle size optimization.
• ✅ Handle SSR properly — only render animations after mount.

Do Not

• ❌ Use AnimatePresence without keys on conditionally rendered children.
• ❌ Animate layout properties (width, height).
• ❌ Forget to handle SSR hydration.
• ❌ Use duplicate layoutId in the same component level.

Learn More

https://www.framer.com/motion/animate-presence/ https://www.framer.com/motion/layout-animations/